Resignation
by Loverly Light
Summary: Ryou's yami makes him build a diorama of Ancient Egypt. Why is he doing this, and why does he place so much importance on its perfection?


Disclaimer: I wish I owned Yu-Gi-Oh!. I also wish I owned a Gundam. Quite frankly, both dreams are very far from reach.

Resignation

"Please, father?"

Mr. Bakura looked down at his son, staring up at him with those pleading, innocent eyes. The man sighed.

"But why do you want to build a diorama for the Ancient Egyptian exhibit?"

"Oh, I just thought it was looking a little bare." The boy clasped his hands behind his back, his voice practically dripping innocence, even though he was lying through his teeth. Mr. Bakura felt wary for some reason, although he didn't know why. Ryou never frightened him before, but something about him today…

The man shook his head, then crossed his arms and gave his son an even stare.

"Ryou, we have more in that exhibit than any other single exhibit in the museum. What's the real reason?"

"Ah, I…" the boy lowered his gaze. "I like making models like that, that's all…"

Mr. Bakura blinked. "But, why Egypt, then?"

"Oh, I just like Ancient Egypt…" The boy said vaguely, fingering the pendant hanging from his neck.

Mr. Bakura smiled slightly. He had gotten his son that pendant several years ago on a trip. He didn't know the boy still carried it around.

"You're still wearing that?"

"Of course!" The boy's eyes widened. "I… I never really take it off…" The boy's eyes seemed to glaze over slightly as he fondly handled the golden item.

Mr. Bakura frowned slightly. Ryou would get like this sometimes…

"Well, I appreciate your eagerness, Ryou, but I really don't think you need to. Besides, wouldn't it take up a lot of time?" he coaxed softly. Trying to change his son's mind when he got like this was a tricky business… one that often failed.

"Ah…" Ryou's gaze dropped to the floor. "I… don't really have much to do in any case…"

Mr. Bakura's eyes softened, and placed a hand gently on his son's shoulder.

"Are you avoiding people again, Ryou?"

The boy's head snapped up, a panicked look in his eyes.

"N-no! I just…" his gazed averted from his father, although it did not fall to the floor again. "It's better if they avoid me anyway…"

"Ryou, it wasn't your fault!" A while ago, whenever Ryou became friends with someone, they would fall into a coma. This scared the boy greatly, and he managed to convince his parents to let him leave and live in an apartment by himself, afraid of what might happen to his parents if he stayed. A few months ago, all those who had fallen into comas had woken up, but despite Mr. Bakura and his wife telling Ryou everything was fine, the boy refused to move back due to some hidden fear he either would or could not share with them.

"But it was!" Ryou cried, turning back to Mr. Bakura, eyes brimming with tears. "I don't know what happened, but it had to be me… I'm dangerous…"

"Ryou, you would never hurt anyone intentionally!"

"Demo, papa…" The boy's voice trailed off. Then he continued softly, "I do have some friends, papa. I just… haven't gotten together with them lately. I promise I'll get together with them as soon as we have the chance do something together again." He smiled up at his father. "But in the meanwhile, it'd be nice to have something constructive to do. I haven't been able to play Monster World lately, and I have been kinda bored some nights." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, and Mr. Bakura blinked at his son's swift mood swing.

"Well… I suppose if you want to…"

"Ah, thank you tou-san!" Ryou grinned. "I'll just work on it after school. I can stay after the museum's closed, right?"

"Sure, Ryou." Mr. Bakura smiled.

"Thanks, papa! I'll see you later!" Ryou waved over his shoulder as he ran off.

"Wait, Ryou—" Mr. Bakura called, but his son was gone.

The boy stepped outside the museum, letting the setting sun warm his form. He closed his eyes, a small smile forming. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, and his smile turned into a sneer. That had been exceedingly easy.

* * *

'Why did you do that, Bakura?'

The yami blinked, before grudgingly handing control to his hikari. 'And you waited this long to ask?'

"You were blocking me out earlier." He stated simply, sitting down on his mattress. He sighed and stared up at the ceiling, his arms supporting him. "You… really did a good job imitating me."

'It's easy. Just simper and act a touch unstable, it's really quite simple, hikari.'

"Hmm." Ryou sighed. "But… it's nice of you, I suppose, but why do you want to make a diorama of Ancient Egypt?"

Ryou saw his yami give him an odd look, although it was quickly replaced by a smirk.

"Oh, I won't be the one making it."

* * *

"Goodbye, everyone!" Ryou called hurriedly, waving goodbye to the rest of the class, although the actions were only directed towards Yuugi and his gang.

"Ah?" Yuugi raised his head from his desk. Ryou was running off as soon as class was over _again_?

"Wait a bit, minna!" He called to Honda, Anzu and Jonouchi as he dashed off after the boy.

"Bakura-kun, wait!" The white-haired boy winced slightly, but continued walking. _Maybe he'll leave me alone if I ignore him… _Ryou didn't want to be rude to Yuugi, but he knew right now he had to leave.

"Ryou!" Yuugi called, and put on a burst of speed, catching up to his friend. Ryou started walking slightly faster, but Yuugi was able to match his speed, despite his disadvantage in leg length.

"Ryou, why are you avoiding me?"

Ryou stopped quickly and turned to his friend, forcing a smile on his face. "I-I'm not ignoring you, Yuugi, I'm just a bit… preoccupied."

"Okay…" Yuugi said hesitantly. "Anyway, we were thinking the five of us could hang out at the Game Shop, since we haven't been able to all get together for a while…"

Ryou hesitated, avoiding Yuugi's eyes. He _wanted _to, but…

"I'm sorry, Yuugi-kun, I… can't."

Yuugi's eyes saddened. "You haven't been able to do anything for two weeks…" He mumbled. Ryou gulped inaudibly.

Yuugi locked gazes with Ryou, eyes serious. "Has your yami been doing something?"

Ryou started, eyes widening for a second. "N-no, everything's fine!"

Yuugi looked suspicious, and Ryou vaguely thought that it was serious if _Yuugi_ was suspicious of something.

Ryou managed to make a smile that didn't looked forced. (And, he hoped, looked reassuring instead.)

"Really, it's nothing, Yuugi-kun, I'm just busy today."

"But—"

"Well, bye!" Ryou interrupted, waving as he ran off.

Yuugi gazed after his friend sadly, then turned back towards the classroom.

"But Ryou…" Yuugi murmured to himself, "You're _always_ busy…"

* * *

Ryou sat down on the bus seat, quickly grabbing his math book, some paper and a pencil. Why did it have to be math homework? He wasn't _too_ bad at it, but it wasn't one of his favorite subjects. Ryou much preferred history.

He studied the words in front of him hard, then worked frantically on the problems.

An older boy sitting across from him raised an eyebrow at this behavior. "Due soon?"

Ryou smiled weakly back at the boy before dropping his head back to his work. It wouldn't be due for another few days, but Ryou knew he wouldn't get any more time to work on homework tonight…

Despite Ryou's best efforts, he was only a fraction of the way done with his homework before he heard the driver announce that the Domino City Museum was the next stop.

Ryou's head whipped up at this announcement, and he froze, a slightly panicked look in his eyes. A second later he dropped his head and sighed in resignation, then proceeded to stuff his school things back into his backpack.

He had a feeling it would be a long night… like always.

* * *

Ryou slowly stepped into the room that had been his haven and prison for the past fortnight. A tired smile spread over his face as he proudly looked over his work.

Ryou stumbled forwards, almost as if in a daze, and sunk to his feet, running his fingers over one of the four marble pillars his yami instructed him to craft. He laid his forehead against the smooth, cool stone and closed his eyes. He knew he couldn't stay like this for long, or his yami might think he fell asleep again, and the last time that happened near the start of his work Bakura had been less than pleased.

Ryou loved working on models like this normally, and he was actually somewhat proud of his work. If he had been the one who chose to do it, he might find some enjoyment in his work, like he normally did. But with his yami… Ryou shuddered slightly, but did not move otherwise.

"Well, yadonushi?"

Ryou's eyes shot open at the voice, and he whirled around to face his yami. The spirit was glaring down at him for some reason. Ryou couldn't figure out what it was— he hadn't been stalling or anything— but then again, the yami didn't usually need a reason to glare at his light.

"W-what?" Ryou asked shakily.

Bakura snarled at his host, eyes narrowing. "Yuugi was suspicious earlier."

"B-but I tried the best I could, Bakura, I promise!" Ryou pleaded, afraid of what Bakura might do if he didn't believe him. "I know I can't let him know what's going on! I tried Bakura, really!"

Bakura stared at the boy huddled on the floor, then turned away with a 'tch'. "Then get to work."

"H-hai." Ryou said, quickly rising from the ground and grabbing some clay before sitting down in front of the diorama in front of him.

Bakura glared down at Ryou, a fact not lost on the boy although he tried his best to ignore it. Well… it was obvious the boy _had _tried to keep Yuugi from being suspicious, however pitiful his attempts were. Besides, Bakura couldn't afford to punish Ryou for anything less than blatant rebellion at the moment. He played too vital a role in the upcoming battle for him to be in poor condition.

Of course, his host wasn't doing too well at the moment anyway, but that was just his weakness again. Bakura knew _he_'d be fine after a few late nights, but that was Ryou for you. He had seen Ryou silently complain about his hours, but at least he knew better than to voice his concerns. Bakura wasn't sure when Yuugi and his friends were going to take the God Cards to the museum, so he had to be ready as soon as possible. So what if Ryou had to work until midnight? He should be grateful Bakura wasn't making him work longer, like he wanted him too. But there was that whole "well host" business again. Even with as light a load he had, Ryou had even occasionally fallen asleep while working on the diorama! Bakura begrudgingly didn't force Ryou to continue working those nights, even though he wished he could, Bakura knew Ryou would do a poor job half-asleep. And he had to admit, Ryou was good at this sort of thing. It was pretty much the _only_ thing Ryou was good at as far as Bakura could tell, but it was enough to make him not totally useless.

A smirk flickered on Bakura's face. Poor Ryou was forced to work in silence while Bakura was thinking… well, he'd change that now.

"The final battle's coming up." Bakura stated conversationally, walking forwards and leaning over the back of Ryou's chair, one of his arms dangling down and lying on Ryou's shoulder.

"R-really." Ryou said, moving slightly to the left to avoid Bakura's hand. He didn't want to talk with Bakura, if Ryou was forced to help him anyway he would prefer to do it in silence. But he had previously learned that when Bakura talked to you, you responded.

"And I'm going to win, obviously." Ryou bit his lip, figuring keeping silent would be a better choice than bringing up the multiple times his yami had lost to the other Yuugi.

"I'm not sure what'll happen, though, once I'm victorious…" Bakura thought in mock contemplation, bringing both arms up to rest on the back of Ryou's chair. Ryou turned his head up, confusion written on his features, but the spirit interrupted him before he got a word out.

"About you, I mean."

Ryou paled slightly, then swung his head back down, gripping the clay in his shaking hands. Bakura grinned. Ryou was just an endless source of amusement.

"I see two possibilities, yadonushi." When Ryou stay silent, Bakura continued, a slight edge in his voice.

"Would you like to hear what they are, host?"

Ryou closed his eyes. He knew what his answer really was, and also what the answer he would give would be.

"Yes…" he whispered shakily, opening his eyes and concentrating on the building in his hand, doing some finishing touches in hope it would distract him from his yami's words. Ryou never wanted to hear his yami's thoughts about what Ryou's fate would be…

"The two possibilities once I win is either that I'll make a permanent body of my own, or gain complete control of yours." The Spirit sneered down at Ryou. "If I were you, I'd pray for the former."

Ryou locked eyes with his yami for one second, then lowered his head back to the clay house he was sculpting.

"Or that Yuugi wins…" He murmured, gently brushing away stray dust from the model in his hands.

The realization of what he had said hit him a second later, as Bakura suddenly appeared in front of him.

Snarling, Bakura gripped the boy by the collar, yanking him up and out of his chair and snapped the boy's head so he was eye-level with the spirit. Ryou let out a cry at the violent motion, and the building he had been holding slipped from his grasp and shattered on the floor.

"How _dare_ you, Ryou! Don't ever, _ever_ dare to think that Yuugi might win this! I have to win, and you are not allowed to side with him even in thought." Ryou shook slightly, eyes widening in fear; but he said nothing, so Bakura continued. "You're supposed to obey me, Ryou, and you shall do so completely. Your role will never change, so it's of no use you thinking as if things were different. You are _my _tool, and I will not allow for this… this betrayal!" Bakura yelled, shaking Ryou roughly.

"But I don't want to help you! If I could choose, I'd help Yuugi without a second thought!" Ryou yelled back, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. "How can it be betrayal if I never willingly helped you in the first place? And I…" Ryou let his head drop, eyes glazed as he stared at the floor.

"I hate this…" The boy finished in a whisper.

Bakura's eyes narrowed even more, if such a thing was possible, and he tried to catch Ryou's gaze. Ryou did his best to avoid it, and Bakura gave up, settling for gripping his host's collar tighter. For a few tense moments nothing changed, then finally, Bakura released his hold on Ryou, and the boy fell back into his chair. Ryou let his arms drop to the table and buried his head in them as well.

For several minutes all was still, Ryou's face hidden from view, his yami's arms folded across his chest as he stared at the boy impassively. Then Ryou spoke up.

"I'm hungry," The boy mumbled. "Do you ever think to eat when you're in control of my body? Skipping dinner every night can't be healthy…"

"Do you think I have time for that?" Bakura picked up a conversational tone.

"Could… could I possibly bring something to eat with me?" Ryou stuttered out, face still hidden from view.

Bakura didn't respond.

After a few seconds of silence, Ryou raised his head slowly, peering at his yami. The spirit was staring at him, an odd expression on his face. Ryou shied back slightly, but kept his head half-raised.

"Very well." Bakura finished finally. The human boy blinked slightly in surprise- he didn't expect his yami to give in so easily, if at all.

At Ryou's reaction, Bakura sneered once again. "As long as you're prepared to work twice the time you waste eating."

Ryou sighed inwardly. Of course his yami couldn't just let him have his way. Ryou was already being forced to work past what was a healthy time to get to bed, and this would cause him to lose even more sleep. And that in turn would make Yuugi more suspicious, making things harder for Ryou both on that side and Bakura's annoyance at his host's lack of ability to hide his fatigue. Instead of voicing his concerns, Ryou just smiled shakily at his yami.

"I… I guess that's fine. But… Why are you letting me…?"

"Hmph." Bakura frowned, turning his head away from Ryou. "I can't afford for your body to fail on me while I'm in control. It needs to stay in as good a condition as it can. So make sure it does."

Ryou dropped his head once more. "O-of course, Bakura."

* * *

Two days later, Ryou trudged tiredly up the museum steps, opening the front door and working his way to the "employees only" section. He rubbed one of his eyes sleepily as he opened the door to the back area, glad to be able to stop acting awake. But he had to work harder than usual, since he had been delayed and the sun was beginning to set.

The boy gave a start as he saw his father talking with one of the workers at the museum.

"F-father! What are you doing here?" Ryou piped up, running towards his father and trying his best to look awake.

Ryou's father turned to his son and smiled, finished with his business with the man.

"Hello to you too, Ryou."

"Oh, sorry." Ryou rubbed the back of his head. "It's great to see you, papa, but… well, why are you here?"

"I had some business to take care of. Besides, you were so eager to start work on that diorama, I thought I'd see how it was going."

"Ah, sure! That'd be great." Ryou smiled. "I'll show you what I've done."

A short while later, Ryou ushered his father towards the room he had been building the diorama in.

The man blinked as Ryou opened the door.

"Ryou, why did you choose this room?"

"Ah, well…" Ryou grinned nervously. He knew it wasn't exactly the most obvious choice; it was right behind the Egypt exhibit, meaning it would be loud and distracting while working when the museum was open. And it wasn't like there weren't extra rooms in quieter places. But Ryou knew why he built it in this room; Bakura had wanted him to for some reason. He couldn't exactly explain that to his dad, though…

"It was empty, so I figured it'd work out well. It's okay that I use it, right?"

"If you want to, it's fine, I suppose."

"Oh, good." Ryou sighed in relief, but quickly followed his father into the room, clasping his hands behind his back.

Mr. Bakura gasped at his son's creation. Could he really have done this much in little over two weeks? He was obviously paying attention to detail, and the diorama had to be several yards long, yet it looked almost two-thirds of the way done.

"Have I done a good job?" The innocent voice of his son came from behind the man.

"Ryou, it's amazing! I'm having a hard time believing you've done this much in just sixteen days!"

Ryou chuckled, and rubbed the back of his head once more. "I've been working hard…" Despite his best attempts to act fine, Ryou's lack of sleep was catching up with the boy, and he let out a yawn.

Mr. Bakura's brow furrowed. Now that he looked at his son, Ryou had circles under his eyes, and looked like he was making an effort to look awake.

"Ryou, are you alright?"

"Oh, y-yeah. I just stayed up late last night." _And the night before that, and the night before_ that_…_ Ryou added mentally.

"I want you to go to bed early then."

Ryou's head shot up. "W-what? But papa…" The boy's eyes wandered over to the half-finished diorama.

Mr. Bakura laughed and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's not like there's a time limit to this, Ryou. And your health is more important anyway. But you'll be able to work on it better once you're well rested, right?"

"Papa, I'm really fine…"

"Ryou, even though you're not living with me right now, I'm still your father, and I want you to take a break tonight, okay?"

Ryou sighed, but smiled at his father. "O-of course, papa. I'm gonna head home now, and I'll see you later."

"Goodbye, Ryou."

The boy waved farewell to his father then let out a sigh as he walked back into the museum.

How was Bakura going to react to this?

* * *

Not well, that was how.

Ryou cringed back from Bakura's burning gaze. Bakura didn't really care about what Ryou told him, until the boy had told him he actually intended on obeying his father. The yami had reacted immediately, hitting Ryou's cheek with enough force to knock him to the ground. That was what lead to the current situation, Ryou pressing into the wall as Bakura glared at him, daring him to continue.

"Ryou, you should know by now my displeasure is of more consequence to you than your father's."

"B-but, Bakura… I-I really think this would be a good idea. I mean…" Ryou wracked his brain to try and find an excuse his yami might agree with. "Dad isn't expecting me to come there tonight, so… well, it'll be all locked up. I-if there's news of a break-in, dad would make sure too keep me from coming for a while in fear of something happening to me." Ryou decided that was his best bet; the only thing Bakura seemed to care about lately was Ryou working on the diorama, and if he was in danger of Ryou being kept from it for longer, he might let it slide for tonight.

To Ryou's disappointment, Bakura simply raised an eyebrow. "Host, you have a key to the museum itself, or have you forgotten?" Ryou opened his mouth to respond, but the spirit cut him off, anticipating the boy's response. "And I can easily pick the lock of the door to the diorama's room itself, since you don't have the key for that."

"But, Bakura—"

"It sounds to me you're trying to weasel your way out of your work, hikari." Bakura hissed, eliciting a gulp from Ryou as he pressed tighter to the wall. His yami was growing impatient.

"T-that's not it at all, Bakura. I just… I don't want to disobey papa." Ryou breathed, letting his gaze fall to the floor. A few seconds later, a dark chuckle reached Ryou's ears, and he raised his head to see a highly amused smirk on Bakura's face.

"Seriously, Ryou, after all the thing's we've done, _this_ is what you have an issue with?"

Ryou stiffened, feeling his eyes widen. "W-what are you talking about? It's not… it wasn't my fault. I never did anything… it was all you—"

"Oh, do you seriously believe that, Ryou?" Bakura snapped.

Ryou frowned in confusion, nodding his head slowly.

Bakura smiled slyly at this, kneeling in front of his host, and cupped Ryou's chin in one hand, forcing Ryou to look at him.

"I never knew you were so ignorant, _Ryou_. For whatever I do, you share equal blame. You don't even _try_ to stop me anymore, yadonushi, or has that fact slipped your mind? You let me do whatever I want without even a check, which makes you the culprit just as much as me."

"T-the reason I stopped trying is because you always hurt me for it… and I could never hold you back at all anyway…" Ryou whispered, eyes glimmering with doubt and pain.

Bakura laughed and released his host's chin as he stood up, throwing the boy's head down at the same time.

"Then it is your weakness that is to blame. If you were stronger you would be able to stop me. But no, I suppose you could never be that strong, could you? You're _utterly_ weak."

Ryou raised his head, eyes sparkling with moisture, but remained mute.

Bakura let out a long laugh, causing one of the tears Ryou was attempt to hold back to slip down his cheek.

"Look at you. Can't even hold back your own tears." Bakura chuckled once more, delighted by the anguish on his hikari's face. "Well, better get ready to leave, yadonushi. You have a lot of work ahead of you."

Still silent, Ryou dragged himself to his feet, leaving to do as Bakura said. The yami smirked as he watched Ryou slip on his shoes. Some might not have called Bakura's reason sufficient to treat his hikari like that, but the thief found it quite adequate.

Ryou's pain amused him to no end.

* * *

Ryou shifted his weight nervously, glancing over his should for what had to be tenth time. He couldn't believe he was doing this, but there you have it; he was breaking into his own father's museum— with the help of his yami, who was currently working on the door's lock— to work on a project that he had no idea of what it's purpose was. Although he knew it couldn't be good simply by the fact his yami told him to make it, he didn't know exactly how bad what he was doing was.

Ryou groaned silently, and raised a hand to his face. His yami was right, he was just as much to blame. He followed his yami's orders for fear of punishment, and he did nothing to stop his yami because it was useless. Bakura always won in the end. The yami had told Ryou himself that his defeats against Yami Yuugi meant nothing, that Bakura might lose occasionally but he would win in the end. Ryou knew this for himself, but he secretly hoped Yami Yuugi was stronger than he was…

Ryou shook his head swiftly. It would do no good if Bakura found out Ryou had been thinking like that.

A soft click caught Ryou's attention, and he was jerked from his musings to see Bakura grinning. The yami turned to Ryou, pushing the door inwards and mockingly bowing to his hikari, sweeping an arm towards the still room in invitation. Ryou paused, staring at the dark room with hesitation.

Bakura's eyes narrowed as he saw his hikari still rooted to the spot, staring at the door. He took a step forward, deciding he'd drag Ryou in if he had to. At the yami's movement, Ryou quickly shook himself from his trance, scurrying into the room before Bakura could approach him. Bakura smirked and shook his head, before following Ryou.

Ryou sighed, sinking into the all-too -familiar chair, wondering idly why Bakura was so worked up about this diorama.

* * *

Ryou sank tiredly into the chair. It had been five days since the break-in. Fortunately his father had not found out (Ryou didn't want to _think_ of what Bakura would do if he had), but although Bakura let Ryou do as he pleased on the weekends, Ryou hadn't gained as much sleep back as he would have liked.

He stared with half-lidded eyes over the desert landscape before him. He was almost finished with the diorama, but he was too far gone to feel any pride. As soon as Bakura let him, he was going to sleep for a whole day.

Hopefully that day would come soon. Bakura had mention while they left last night that Ryou only had the palace left to make. Unfortunately, there was a good tenth of the board left, and Ryou knew this would be a _bit_ more detailed than mountains.

Ryou sighed, before pulling out some clay. He might as well get started.

Fifteen minutes later, Ryou felt like slamming his head against the table. Bakura was being even pickier than normal. Of course he usually pointed out whenever Ryou messed up, but he was doing it even more than usual now. Ryou sighed almost inaudibly, but kept his eyes on the scolding yami. Well, how was Ryou supposed to know what statues were in front of the palace? Honestly.

"Look, just makes a bunch of sphinxes. They lined the path up to the palace. I doubt you could find a way to mess _that_ up." Bakura said testily. Ryou gave his yami a sidelong glance, before staring down at the clay.

_If I mess stuff up so much, why don't you just do it yourself?_ Ryou thought bitterly. The words he spoke to Bakura were quite different.

"Bakura, why does this matter so much to you?"

Bakura was silent, and Ryou wondered if he should have just kept his mouth shut. But he wanted to know the answer desperately, even though he had never asked his yami before. Why did his yami continue to get so worked up about this, and why was he having Ryou make it instead of making it himself? Like the yami stated, in Bakura's eyes Ryou's involvement usually messed things up for him.

Several moments later, Bakura responded with a question of his own.

"Do you remember Monster World, yadonushi?"

Ryou shuddered in remembrance— how could he ever forget? —but managed to nod his head. But what did his RPG game have to do with the diorama Ryou was making?

Bakura smirked distantly, half in recollection as well, and half in anticipation. Oh, he'd give his hikari the knowledge he asked for, and more than he would want.

"Well, my host, that was something of a… practice round, you could say."

Ryou looked up at him quizzically, still not comprehending. Bakura leaned forwards slightly.

"A practice round for this."

The color drained from Ryou face in realization. He… he couldn't be serious, could he?

No, of course he was.

"I… I can't let you do that." Ryou whispered, staring wide-eyed at what he was making, suppressing the urge to destroy it, knowing that would draw out more hatred from his yami than he could handle.

"Yadonushi, we both know you can do nothing."

"I did something before. In Monster World. And I'll do the same here, from inside the game."

"Well then, I'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen."

Ryou opened his mouth to respond, but his yami glared sharply at him, switching from the casual smugness he had been displaying until then.

"And don't you dare to try and warn Yuugi or stop working on the game board. I'll just take over to make sure everything goes as it should, and I wouldn't guarantee you ever gaining control back."

Ryou cowered away slightly. He always was afraid one day Bakura would lock him away forever…

"B-but, why didn't you just do that in the first place? Why _didn't _you always work on the model yourself?" Ryou urged in an attempt to draw away from Bakura's threat and back to his original question. Apparently Bakura was satisfied, as the grin settled over his features once more.

"Because, dear host, I wanted you to do it yourself."

"But I want nothing to do with this!" Ryou cried, staring imploringly up at his yami. "Yuugi's my friend, yami! I-I know he… won't win… but I won't play a part in you hurting him!"

Bakura smiled and placed a hand on his light's shoulder in an act of mock comforting. "But don't you see, that the whole point! It wouldn't mean anything if I did it, that other of his already considers me an enemy. But think of how he'll feel when he finds out you were helping me!" Bakura chuckled.

"B-but I'm not." Ryou whispered, bangs shadowing his eyes. "I-I'm not helping you…"

"Oh, really?" The spirit raised an eyebrow at his quivering hikari. "What would to call your actions, then?"

"I'm _not_ helping you!" Ryou yelled, slightly hysterical. "I… I'm not helping you."

"Hikari, as charming as denial is, it does no good." Bakura stated blandly. "You know what I'm doing is wrong, that it's going to hurt your friend, but you will do it anyway. Because you really can't do any different. You will always do as I tell you, because you don't know how to fight back. I told you before; you're one of my pawns. And a pawn must do as it is instructed, no questions or second thoughts. And you, yadonushi, will become a perfect puppet before I'm done with you."

Ryou's head dropped, and the boy clenched his fists, trying not to cry. It was true… of course it was true. Bakura was always right. And no matter what Ryou wished, he would wind up doing Bakura's will in the end…

Bakura stared at the miserable human for several minutes, letting him soak in his depression. When he grew bored, he finally spoke.

"Get back to work, yadonushi." The yami commanded in an emotionless tone. Ryou slowly raised his head, face stained with tears, and grabbed some clay in his shaking palm.

Bakura watched as the boy continued his work, and a small smile grew over his face once more.

As far as the two of them were concerned, Bakura had already won.

* * *

Author's notes: Yeah, not a happy ending… but we know it'll turn out good in the end, because good always triumphs! And we've read the manga.

Anyway, this was actually the… second or third Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfiction I started. (The other two were both about Thief King Bakura. XD I just love him, he's like a mix of Yami Bakura and Ryou…) I decided to finish it. I want to publish the other two soon also, but one has a seven-year-old Bakura talking to Yami's dad, and the other I'm simply not inspired to work on right now. Not to mention it needs some re-working.

ANYway, Impermanence chapter 4 should be up semi-soon, I'm just having trouble since I consider the last chapter kinda boring since it focuses more on Yami and Yuugi. ^^"

So, bye! Hope you liked… and please review! It makes me more happy than you can imagine, unless you too live off reviews and tend to write for things that are very unpopular. (*cough*likeLunaXSubaru*cough*)

Oh yes, and in case anyone was wondering, that was all Bakura in that first section. Yes, he's a very good actor.


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